


Wolf

by Katsuko



Series: Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2011 [7]
Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, NaNoWriMo, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-12
Updated: 2011-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-27 06:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/292509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d been working for months to find a spell that would be beneficial during one of his and Thor’s adventures, something to protect them should they have the misfortune of running across something much bigger and tougher than themselves. He hadn’t been terribly successful, so when danger reared its head, he was startled to suddenly find himself a wolf. Written for both <span><a href="http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/"><b>hc_bingo</b></a></span> and NaNoWriMo 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hc_bingo**](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) Round 2, the prompt being "first transformation." I also used the month of November to do my own personal variation of NaNoWriMo, in which I was attempting to finish off my entire bingo card for a blackout. However, circumstances arose involving a death in the family just before Thanksgiving and inspiration had already been fleeting at best... yet I still managed to pound out nine stories before the end of the month, so I feel accomplished in that at least.
> 
> For the record, this fic is once again set in my little AU universe created in [4 People Who Thought This Shape-shifting Stuff was Weird and the 1 Person Who Wasn't Even Fazed](http://archiveofourown.org/works/210163/chapters/314500) and expanded upon in [Resurrection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/214345) and [Famine](http://archiveofourown.org/works/227454).

He’d been working for months to find a spell that would be beneficial during one of his and Thor’s adventures (they really _shouldn’t_ wander so far from the safety of the palace, they were still quite young and wouldn’t be considered men for some time yet, but Heimdall was always watching so they weren’t _exactly_ unsupervised), something to protect them should they have the misfortune of running across something much bigger and tougher than themselves. He hadn’t been terribly successful, but it didn’t stop the brothers from venturing off into the forests surrounding their home.

So when danger did in fact rear its head in the form of a pair of half-starved wolves who thought that a couple young princes would make for a fine feast, Loki was startled to suddenly find himself a much larger wolf. He’d merely been thinking that something bigger would frighten off the scavengers and _poof_ , he was that something more fearsome.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know how the Hel he’d done it, and Thor was _freaking out._

Loki whined softly and settled on his haunches (and wasn't _that_ weird, suddenly having haunches that had never been there before today) since he had no idea on how to not be a giant wolf anymore, plus Thor's sudden discovery that he could panic like a girl was a bit disconcerting for the younger prince. Honestly, he hadn't seen someone flip out quite so badly since Sif had decided to cut off most of her hair last summer.

(The reason for Sif's panic had been due to the fact that one, she'd used a dull knife to chop off her long blonde curls; two, she'd chopped off a bit more than she'd intended; and three, she was convinced that her mother was going to _kill her_ for it. Loki was still not entirely sure how offering to finish the job properly with a sharper knife had calmed her down, but he'd nearly had his own panic attack when, after needing to resort to cropping the girl's hair close to her skull, Sif's locks had grown back in almost as dark as Loki's own. Sif, thank the Norns, had thought it looked fantastic and ignored her mother's lamenting.

Besides, who ever heard of a blonde warrior? Except Fandral, and eventually Thor, but they didn't count because Fandral was an idiot and Thor was _Thor_.)

For his part, Thor was terrified. Oh, he wasn't frightened because of the wolves that had fled (although, yes, he'd been frightened. Those creatures had been naught but skin and bone and were hungry enough to eat whatever prey they might be able to take down, and neither he nor Loki were yet grown), but because somehow his wish for something to defend himself and his younger brother had resulted in Loki being transformed into a monster-sized wolf. If their parents ever found out, he would never grow up to be king of Asgard because Mother and Father would kill him for enchanting his baby brother.

Thor was the elder brother. He was supposed to _protect_ Loki, not use him as a human (or otherwise) shield!

The blond prince took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down and looked over to see if anything had changed. Nope, Loki was still a wolf.

The younger prince blinked slowly as he noted that Thor's panic was subsiding, only to be replaced with a watery stare. That was... disconcerting. Thor couldn't be about to cry, because Thor _never_ cried. Crying was for boys much younger than Loki (no matter what Mother said, because mothers said many things that couldn't _possibly_ be the truth), not for the future kings of Asgard. And yet there was Thor, a few tears beginning to fall from his blue eyes and making Loki uncomfortable.

Loki shifted back to his feet, letting out another whine as he walked over to his brother. Thor looked at him for a moment before throwing his arms around the younger prince's large furry neck and sobbing in earnest. Interspersed between bouts of crying were barely discernable apologies and pleas for forgiveness, and it took Loki nearly a full minute to realize that his brother thought _he himself_ was to blame for the younger's transformation.

Not quite knowing what to do, Loki turned his head and nuzzled Thor's shoulder. When the elder brother lifted his head, the wolf rewarded the action with a lick to one tear-stained cheek and gave a sharp bark. Although he was currently incapable of forming words, the implication was clearly, "This isn't your fault so stop taking all the blame."

Thor sniffled once, twice, then pulled back to scrub at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "'m sorry," he said quietly, still not entirely sure that he hadn't done something to turn his brother into a beast. He reached out to scratch Loki's coat absently before asking, "Can you turn back?"

The younger prince tilted his head to one side and closed his eyes, trying to find the thread to whatever had caused him to change forms in the first place. It was difficult to track down, hidden in the back of his mind in a place he didn't even know was there, and it took him another five minutes to figure out how to make the instinctive magic work the way he wanted it to. By the time he opened his eyes to find that he was human once again, Volstagg and Odin were just making their way into the clearing where the boys had been cornered by the wolves.

It was several weeks later, after Thor and Loki had both been punished for wandering too far from the palace and causing their mother no end of worry (and an additional punishment for arguing that Heimdall had known where they were, because apparently the clearing had been blocked to the guardian's sight and _no one_ had known where they were), that Odin took his younger son to the court sorcerers and commanded that they teach the boy all that a shapeshifter needed to know.

* * *

"What. The hell. Is that?"

Thor glanced over at the Iron Man in confusion before turning back to the battle at hand... only to note that a small dragon (and by small, he meant that it was only fifty feet long) was attacking the mechanical army that Doom had turned loose on them. Recognizing the sheen of the scales, he grinned brightly.

"We can relax for a moment, my friend," the god of thunder said cheerfully. "Loki should be able to handle this batch and allow us to renew our strength for the next wave."

Tony stared at the Asgardian. "Your brother is a dragon," he said after a moment.

"Indeed," Thor agreed.

When there was apparently no more forthcoming (and Loki-dragon was starting to shoot aggravated looks at his brother even while snapping another Doombot in half), Tony added, "And that isn't weird because...?"

"Dragons are more useful in a fight with a great many enemies. Were there only a couple of metal men, it's possible that a Jotun wolf could do the job just as well."

"You are never going to let me live that down, are you?" Loki, now human-looking once again, asked in an annoyed tone from behind Tony, causing the man to nearly jump out of his skin. (Thankfully, JARVIS would never allow that to actually happen, if only because the mess would be horrific and Pepper would be displeased. Even AIs feared Pepper Potts, and that was the way of the world.)

Thor grinned unrepentantly. "Why would you not wish to be reminded of her first successful transformation to another form?"

"Would you like me to tell our comrades how much _you_ enjoyed that moment?" Loki asked sweetly.

Abruptly, Thor was all business again. "It seems our enemy has regrouped. Shall we resume our offensive?"

The god of mischief rolled his eyes in amusement as his brother threw himself back into the fray, followed by a still-very-confused Tony Stark. It was just too much fun to tease Thor sometimes... especially since no one would ever believe that the mighty Thor had ever had a moment of weakness where Loki had to be the strong one.


End file.
